


Present Company (The Best That You Can Find)

by ARandomFactoid



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Missing Scene, Mostly Gen, POV Nile Freeman, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, between Merrick's lab and the pub
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25889578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARandomFactoid/pseuds/ARandomFactoid
Summary: Everything that lives, dies; everything changes - slowly, then all at once, usually.  In the meantime, a body still needs to eat, drink, and rest.How the team regains their footing between the lab and returning to Copley's.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Comments: 15
Kudos: 140





	1. Ready, let's roll onto something new

**Author's Note:**

> hello! welcome! This will be a multi-chapter fic that's in the works. I'll try to mention anything of import at the start of each chapter, but this will be a "The team does things and talks a lot story" so I don't think there will be any major tags to be added. 
> 
> Spoiler alert: food will come up regularly. Rated T for Teen because they swear and aren't 100% upstanding members of society (I have no idea how real spy/crime-y things work, lets roll with it)
> 
> Title is a reference to the song "Dance Yrself Clean" by LCD Soundsystem. Tho' I'd recommend the MS MR cover for the feeling.

The contemplative silence only lasts as long as the drive crosses the City of London proper. As soon as they slipped into Greater London, the chatter starts, low and clipped off phrases, proper nouns, and no context Nile could follow until it turned into bickering about someone named Khalil in Whitechapel. Nile watches the road signs and tries to clock how many CCTV cameras they are skirting as Andy and Joe pepper Booker with questions. Is it safe to contact Khalil? (Andy) Or had Booker sold them out to Khalil as well? (Joe) Would he be able to provide any actual help? (Andy again) Why is anyone even listening to Booker right now? (Joe, to everyone in the car). With Andy apparently willing to just drive around in circles until they had a plan, she asks a question herself.

“Would you eat with him, Booker?”

Booker sighs and slumps back in his seat. “Khalil’s a smuggler.” He shrugs and laughs “of wine and cheese. And once a shipping container of charcuterie boards he, for some reason, thought I could help him with. We haven’t met in person, but he was one of the kids in Beddawi,” he continued, his voice going soft with memory. “back when the job went south in Tripoli -” he stops again, to let… something happen, Nile doesn’t know what. She can tell everyone is having a moment, their eyes darting but not meeting, but no one speaks up. “Khalil’s front business has a page about it up on their website, a foundation, I’ve… helped with, ahhh, back channel paperwork to get a few families safe. So, yeah, sure Nile, I’d have dinner with him.”

Nile catches Andy’s gaze in the rear-view, and Andy merely nods and confirms “Whitechapel” with a turn of the steering wheel that make Andy wince and readjust in her seat. Nile grabs onto the door handle to keep herself out of Nicky’s personal bubble, but he still reaches out a hand to steady her shoulder, giving a quick grin as they steady and start step one of their next plan.

The first stop is a dingy looking convenience shop in a run-down commercial district. Booker steps out on his own, Andy having barely slowed to a pause before he’s out and she continues on. The car is quiet as they make a wide circle, two full city blocks and a zigzag out and back onto to main road. Booker is striding alongside the outside edge of the parked cars that line the road, a plastic bag hanging from his wrist of the hand jammed into his jacket pockets as he affects a nonchalant gait. He doesn’t even look behind at the car as Andy pulls alongside, not looking at the car until he’s reaching for the handle and climbing back into a moving vehicle in a single fluid movement that shows this is a practiced tactic. 

He wordlessly hands the bag to Nicky, who dumps the contents out onto his lap and immediately tosses back the clamshell packaging of a new burner phone to Booker, who catches it awkwardly and gets to work trying to open the thing with his bare hands. There are wet wipes that Nile accepts, handing them out to Andy and Joe before setting them down between her and Nicky and starting to clean the remnants of the fight from her face and hands. A bottle of water, cold and sweating from the cooler case, follows and she finishes half the bottle in one go, enjoying the almost brain freeze and the slight dizziness of the temperature drop that spreads through down her chest and body as the tension and adrenaline start to ebb. Beside her, Nicky sighs quietly and she looks down at the wrappers he is holding in his hands then up at Joe, who is also watching with a pinched expression that she can’t quite parse before Nicky speaks up. “Any food allergies, Nile?”

Booker grunts as he wrenches the plastic open, then hisses and puts his thumb in his mouth for a moment before going to work on the phone. “Sorry Nile,” he shrugs as he plugs a charger into the car’s cigarette lighter. “They were by the register and…”

“Thank you, Sebastian.” Nicky interrupts “Nile?” he continues, holding them out to let her choose. They’re protein bars, three of same brand but different flavors of chocolate. She takes the one with the ‘real peanut butter filling’ and holds it up.

“Anyone going to cry if I devour this in two bites?”

“Definitely not,” Joe answers, accepting the coffee version from Nicky, and quickly breaks it in half and trades it for a piece of the caramel flavored bar Nicky was left to open. “Thanks, Book.” He adds perfunctorily. 

Book gives a backwards wave in acknowledgment, already dialing a number and putting the phone to his ear. Nile stops paying attention when Booker connects and starts conversing in an unfamiliar dialect of Arabic, instead making eye contact with Andy in the mirror and silently offering to share the protein bar, unsurprised when Andy smirks and shakes her head. Nicky interrupts with a nudge of her leg, opening a bag of skittles and gestures a question if she would like some. She nods, and has to stifle a laugh when Andy’s left hand is flung back between them - claiming her share first. Nicky takes Andy’s hand in his, holding it as he serves Nile, then Andy, closing her fingers securely around the candy before he lets her go. He shakes the bag at Joe, who rolls his eyes before taking it and peeling the bag apart and starting to sort them out by color. By the time Booker is clearly in the ‘I need a big old favor’ part of the conversation Joe has three piles. Nicky claim the orange and reds with a smile, then pauses before scooping up the few purples and handing them Booker - rattling them in his fist to get Booker to take them. 

For a few minutes, the atmosphere is almost relaxed, given… everything.

The call winds down and Booker has an address he repeats out loud as he flips on the cars sat-nav system, barreling on with setting up directions over Andy’s hiss of disapproval. He thanks his contact before hanging up and dropping the phone on the center console “You’re good, Andy but we don’t have the time to navigate _this_ city by instinct, _today_. I’ll wipe it before we dump the car - promise.”

“Booker is right, Andromache.” Nicky answers. “And he was admirably vague with his friend. It is not a large risk.” He adds, his voice quiet and flat.

“We could always go straight to the Crawly stash, Boss.” Joe interjects. “No more third parties.”

“I can’t move us with just the Crawly cache” Booker counters. “The English caches are always out of date, I don’t even think-”

“It’s fine.” Andy interrupts. “Whitechapel, already decided. Everyone shut the fuck up so I can hear the car tell me what to do.”


	2. We can Drive Around This Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Half a step of the plan - a wobble in the team's equilibrium.

Andy kills the sat-nav as soon as Booker exits the car, peeling off as smoothly as the afternoon traffic will allow. Nile notes a few landmarks as they pull away, but they’re around a corner before Booker even approaches a building. Joe asks Andy if she needs a break but she waves him off, gripping the steering wheel testily as she glares a the cars around them. “I hate London.” She says to no one in particular “Too exposed here.”

“The parking is terrible.” Joe adds “and everything is too expensive.” He continues. “I don’t know why we would ever come here.” He finishes - his tone aiming and falling short of casual, brittle enough that Nile reaches out to pat his arm.

“I have heard terrible things about the weather” she offers.

Nicky laughs roughly, and puts a finger to his lips. “You’ll call the English rain down on us Nile.” Leaning his head back against the seat he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “But England does cost us too dearly when we are here. I do not think we will come back here anytime soon.”

“We won’t” Andy agrees softly, and the conversation dies as she turns on the radio.

Nile falls asleep somewhere after a news reader’s breathless update about the untimely death of ‘the youngest CEO in pharma’ and between tracks of a Billie Piper throw-back song block. She’s woken by a blaring of horns passing them, raising her head to find them stopped in the middle of traffic, waiting for Booker to cross the street - she notes they are on a completely different block they dropped him at. He’s carrying a black bag tucked under his arm, and a piece of wood that he sets down at his feet before pulling the messenger bag into his lap.

“Khalil came through.” Booker says by way of greeting He pulls a laptop out of the bag and opens it, then the phone from the convenience store, setting up an Internet connection. Not so much a burner, then, Nile supposes - but she’s still new the shady side of the gig.

“Car?” Andy asks, glancing sideways at Booker’s work.

“Six blocks north, two west. Parking garage that has a clean ride. No cameras covering the west entrance and exit. Exit attendant will take this car and process it. We just need to leave it in the same spot as the pick-up.”

“How much?” Joe asks, his eyes fixed outside on the passing buildings. “How much are we indebted to your _friend_.”

“Joe…” Booker starts, “You don’t-”

“How much?” Joe cuts him off, turning towards the rest of them. “Take it from my mine, whatever it is. Just tell me how much. I want us to be clear of it when it’s done. And I want it _done_.” He waves his hand dismissively at Booker and tilts his head at Nicky when Nicky opens his mouth to speak. 

“Nothing!” Booker interjects. “You, all of you, owe _nothing_.” Booker produces an old flash drive from the bag “Ten families, fifty four people. These files, I fix them to help get these families to Europe and safe and Khalil and _I_ are good… ti giuro. _Ti giuro;_ I traded only what is mine to give.”

_This time_ goes unsaid. 

Joe sighs and turns back to the window. Nile holds the eye contact when Booker looks to her, giving him a nod towards the bag, urging him to keep working. They’re all quiet as their progress crawls across the city, letting the unsaid lie as a tenuous calm fills the space between them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Ti giuro" = "I swear to you" (In Italian, according to the internet). I aim to keep the non-English short and hopefully less liable to epic translation fails. 
> 
> Short chapter, was part of a larger planned chapter but these beats land differently than the longer scenes to follow so I made an executive authorial decision to transplant it as its own chapter to let it take up the space it needs to be it's own thing.


	3. when routine bites hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> several things start to take shape, everyone one is tired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! This took a while. Wrote a few other things, made an actual kind of outline & a playlist for this thing so I know where I'm going to get when I get there. Changed laptops & writing software in the middle there somewhere too.
> 
> Of note, there's a bit of implied discussion about boundaries and privacy this chapter (re. changing clothes together in an enclosed space). No nudity and everyone is 100% respectful and it's non-issue for all involved - but I couldn't not have the characters who bring it up *not* bring it up given the circumstance.

They head south from the garage, Joe taking over driving while Andy dozes in the front seat. It’s Nicky who finally explains the plan; that while they lack a safe-house in England, they do have a few semi-private storage facilities where they can clean up before trying to cross any borders. Booker continues working on the laptop, producing three more phones from the bag that he has Nile set up, walking her through their protocol while Nicky watches silently, nodding whenever Nile or Booker look to him for a confirmation or assent. Booker gives Nile the name of the storage facility and asks her to pull directions for Joe, they tell her they’re less than ten minutes out before she hands the phone to Joe to guide them to their next destination. 

Joe comes to a stop in front of Crawley Self Storage, keeping the car in idle and nudging Andy awake. When no one moves Nile looks to Nicky who winces a bit before answering “Booker is checking to see if they have updated their security since we last checked on this cache.”

Booker snorts, “I keep saying if it’s been more than five years assume it’s all new. And this one is more than eight. Yes, they have, but that upgrade put their cameras on wi-fi.” He looks up at them, “Tell me if these feed recordings look clear.” He plays back a bank of video feeds that show the storage complex at various angles, all completely empty. Nicky and Nile nod when they fail to catch any movement when Booker pulls the laptop back. Joe and Andy wave it off when he offers them the same inspection. 

“Just loop it, Book.” Andy orders. “Let’s get in and out clean.” A few more keystrokes and Books gives nod, listing off an unit number and a series of left and right turns to get there. They pull up to a unit near the back of the complex, big enough to fit a car so Nile has no idea what to expect as Booker punches a code into the keypad and pulls the steel door up.

An overhead light blinks on automatically on a mostly empty unit. There’s a modest pile of cardboard boxes in a far corner, a couple of blue plastic cubes next to them, a few five gallon buckets, with lids, and what look to be folded up tarps resting on top of the stack. Nile follows them inside, turning back to watch Nicky pull the door closed behind them as Joe hits a switch that turns the light back on as the room turns dark again.

“Don’t touch the walls.” Andy says as she heads for the boxes. “Can you help with this?” she directs to Nile, reaching for the tarps. Nile reaches them before Andy can, and finds a pair - one plastic and one fabric - and Andy points to the floor with her chin. They carpet the empty space, first with the plastic followed by the fabric before turning to the boxes with Booker. 

Joe and Nicky go for the blue cubes, which look heavy, and the buckets, which do not. They whisper to each other back and forth as they cross to the center of the room, until Joe cuts loose a plaintive “Nicolo”. Which only gets him a tired “Yusuf” in return and a stubborn tilt of the head towards Andy and Nile.

“Something wrong?” Andy directs to the ceiling, but her body’s turned to Nicky, so Nile turns her attention that way.

“We’re fine, Boss” Joe starts.

“What is the plan?” Nicky says at the same time. “As I am the only one answering questions and I do not hear anyone else explaining? And I also do not know what the plan is?”

“Nicky….” Andy sighs.

Booker starts unstacking the boxes while Joe opens the buckets, pulling out towels out and setting them on the tarp.

“Andromache.” Nicky answers, putting a hand up in a placating gesture. “This is as far as the emergency plan goes. I believe we, including Nile, should discuss what happens next.” He turns to Nile “I do not mean to speak for you,” he shrugs. “We have spare clothes in the boxes, and water to clean up.” he nods towards the blue cubes. “If you would prefer privacy I am sure we can wait outside for a few minutes. Then,” he addresses Andy, “we discuss?”

Nile looks down at her hands, picking out a stray piece of glass hanging out under a nail, and looks up realizing everyone is waiting for her to say something. It takes her a moment to realize, when she notices Nicky’s apologetic grimace directed her way, that she’s being given the choice to send them away to change in privacy, which…. she shrugs. “Everyone just, turn around and eyes to yourselves and it’s good.” She slides out of her ruined jacket and toes a box. “Anything vintage in these?”

With that the team starts moving again, Booker shoves a box her and Andy’s way and Nicky lets Joe turn him towards and over one of the buckets. As Nile turns towards a box of whatever Andy stashed in this particular cache she catches Nicky dropping his shirt into the bucket. It lands with a sticky plop that makes everyone pause again.

“Headshot?” Andy asks towards the back wall as she awkwardly tries raising her t-shirt over her head. 

Nicky only growls a little while Joe sighs again and says “Can we not right now?” as he lifts one of the water containers. Nile turns back towards Andy holding out a short-sleeved button up laying near to top of the box. Andy acquiesces to Nile’s raised eyebrow and allows her help getting out of the ruined shirt, which also goes into one of the buckets.

Its several minutes of shuffling cardboard, splashing water, and quiet grumbles as bloody water and clothing fills the buckets and they cobble together an appearance of normalcy. Fashion-wise, it's a minor disaster. Joe and Booker look about the same, changing and shoving their left-overs Nile’s way to move onto something else. Andy hadn’t apparently hadn’t been bothered to keep the styles particularly up to date or otherwise timeless and has to make do with the button up and the sand-blasted jeans she muttered defensively about having been an ‘emergency purchase’. For her part, Nile is still wearing a pair of boxers she pulled from Joe’s box and a white undershirt tank from Booker’s over a lime-green racerback sports bra that was the only alternative after Andy confirmed the one Nile was wearing had seen its last battle. She’s about to attempt a pair of Andy's tall-waisted jeans that predates stretchy denim when a shirt appears in her periphery and Nicky clears his throat.

“Joe put some things with mine,” Nicky starts, still looking away from Nile and Andy towards where Joe and Booker are sorting through a stack of cards and documents. He adds a pair of jeans to the offering. “He is taller, so I wear his and you borrow mine? So we’re all only a little bit… oddly dressed?” He grins a little when she huffs and takes the clothes with a wry “Thanks.” and turns around to give her privacy.

“Speak for yourself.” Joe quips from the corner, tearing a sheaf of paper in two. “There’s also a belt.” he adds, rifling through another pile. “Might make the outfit seem more intentional. There’s also a scrunchy in the box. And we’ve got nothing, Boss.” He looks over to Andy, who’s fiddling with the elastic band of her jeans as if she doesn’t understand how it came to be on her person. “Besides the cash everything is out of date, and of course nothing for Nile.”

“Fake it ‘til you make it?” Andy asks, stepping over to watch the guys work. “We managed alright by car on the way over.”

Nicky scoffs, and Nile looks up as she’s cuffing the jeans so they sit at her boots in a way that she hopes looks more “hipster disguise’ than ‘desperation’. He’s wearing a bright red hoodie emblazoned with the logo of the local football club, fully zipped, and jeans tucked into a new pair of boots, and clutching a beanie he shoves in a pocket as he glares at Andy. “What, we have Nile duck to the floorboards and hope no one notices?”

It is, in fact, what they had done.

Booker stands, holding a stack of currency large enough it legitimately makes Nile nervous - probably more money than she’s ever had in the bank at one time. He starts handing it out in chunks to the others, starting with Joe, who doesn’t look up to acknowledge Booker in any way other than to take the paper and set it by his knee. “About that,” he says, handing off to Andy, then Nicky. “We had help, clearing the way, as it were. I’m not sure our luck would hold for the return trip.”

“Copley?” Nicky asks, rolling his eyes when Booker confirms. Nile holds eye contact when Booker hands her a stack of pound notes and euros, he meets her gaze but only shrugs - knowing by now she knows he didn’t give her up to Copley before she had confronted the man herself - just everyone else. Unsure how to feel about that, she looks down to the money and splits it into three to spread it out between her pockets and a boot. Booker goes back to the corner with Joe and their growing mess of paper, shoving the remaining notes inside his jacket.

Andy moves to crouch, but aborts-mission and stands when her wound obviously pulls her sideways. “So no to France. We head north, Scotland then a ferry to Ireland when we’re clear.”

“Sounds like the same problem, different direction.” Nile chimes in as Nicky puts his hands up and walks over to sit next to Joe. Andy turns with the start of a glare headed her way that softens when Nile doesn’t back down, because she’s right. They can’t stay still and they can’t run faster than their resources will safely carry them. She knows they have more than what’s in this storage unit, they just need to reach out to pull the right string to set things in motion.

She thinks as the others murmur around her, fishing out a couple of belts to hold the borrowed jeans up and cinch the too-large shirt around her waist. Andy and Booker start cleaning up, breaking down boxes and sealing the buckets with their lids as Nicky and Joe are researching something on one of the phones. Nile finds the scrunchy Joe mentioned and wraps her braids up at the back of her head. She wonders if Copley made it - back, home, away, whatever and she remembers she hasn’t exactly explained Copley’s part in her rescue op. Then she remembers he had been willing to help, could still be willing and able to help, and probably still feeling guilty enough to do plenty more than provide directions and a ride that’d still be short of the mortal danger he had been willing to join in on earlier today.

“You still have Copley’s number?” She asks, looking at Booker.

“I, uh… yeah. I remember it.” Booker answers, “Why?”

“He told me where you all were, drove the car to Merrick’s, was all locked and loaded to come in with me when I went in after you until I sent him away. If he got clear he may be able to help us now.” Nile looks to Andy. “I think he feels guilty enough to help us go to ground and get our bearings, if not out of the country and wherever it is we want to go.”

Andy studies her, blows her bangs out of her eye, then shrugs. “If you’re sure, then let's go for it, why not. I doubt he already has another pharmaceutical ceo on the line just yet. Joe, Nicky?”

“If Nile is sure, I say Ok.” Nicky nods with his decision. “Copley now understands what he risks. I still believe he is smart enough to simply say no rather than betray us again.” He puts a hand on Joe’s shoulder, squeezing slightly when he is finished.

Joe shakes his head, but deflates slightly. “We’ve gotten out of worse with less. This was… too close.” he leans into Nicky. “He helped you save us?” he asks Nile and sighs when she nods. “Ok.. Ok. Call him, Booker.”

Booker opens his mouth to speak, but closes it when Joe stands. Instead he picks up the third phone and dials, grunts when it goes to voicemail and hangs up. He sends a text and dials again. This time he gets an answer, and as soon as he says “Copley,” Joe pulls the phone away and takes over.

“Mr. Copley.” Joe’s voice is so abrasively bright it can’t not put Copley on notice. “You owe us a bottle of champagne, for starters.”

Booker looks to Andy, who only snorts and shrugs at him. She tilts her head towards the remaining mess and the rest of them finish clearing up as Joe talks to Copley. Booker opens the storage unit and Nicky carries out the broken down cardboard boxes and a garbage bag holding the rolled up tarps and shredded papers to the dumpsters across the way. Nile and Booker follow with the buckets of bloody water and clothes. When she questions dumping everything so close he shrugs. Risk of someone picking through this random dumpster versus carrying around the evidence for however long, he reasons. Nothing is guaranteed to work one hundred percent of the time. Andy pops the trunk and stashes the few things they’re keeping, closing it gently to keep the noise down - it’s all so remarkably quiet given the gunfire and explosions a few hours ago. Joe closes the now empty unit and climbs into the car with the others while still on the phone.

“Mr. Copley thinks he has the perfect place for us.” Joe exclaims, settling into the driver’s seat “what do you think Nicky, love?” He grins when Nicky just stares at him. “Nicky says yes only if it has a nice TV.” Joe tells Copley. “Ok.” he nods. “Sounds acceptable. I’ll call back in ten, you better pick up.” Joe continues, his tone gone flat. He ends the call and drops the phone onto the center console and starts the car.

“He’s offering up a private detached residence for as long as we need and any and all assistance he can muster.” Joe tells them. “He’s sending a location and we can go from there. Who’s on team two?”

“I think it would be best if Nile and I are team two.” Nicky answers, looking to her for confirmation.

“What’s team two?” Nile asks. “And you are all going to have to start with the explanations before I ask. Or give me a lexicon, glossary, or something guys.”

“Team two is the calvary.” Joe answers her, meeting her eye in the rearview. “To back up team one if things go wrong meeting up with Copley. You’re obviously more than capable in that regard.”

“And I like being on team two.” Nicky adds. “The others, not so much. Not today.”

“Alright.” Nile allows. “What are we going to do while the others meet with Copley?” 

Ten minutes later, she’s standing in front of a Tescos supermarket with Nicky, watching the other drive away. Nicky adjusts the beanie on his head and slides on a pair of sunglasses. He takes in her incredulous expression and smiles widely. “We do actually need to acquire a few things, and several other things that would be nice to have.” he tells her.

“Yeah, but.” she waved her hand around. “It isn’t very…”

“It’s quite stealthy. In plain sight, even. Who will look for us here?” Nicky steps behind her to get out of the way of a train of shopping carts. “Maybe more so once we’re inside, yes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the update. i love and appreciate comments & am working up to replying (I'm shy - even on the internet >_<) 
> 
> As mentioned above I have a playlist - this is now kind of vaguely song-fic adjacent (titles are all song lyrics). Ch 3 is from Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5hIxS24RyBcpOTEnfz75hRuC8_GjnWHT links to the playlist, oh so vaguely spoilery for future chapters if one would care guess.


End file.
